Hal Baumann Bio

I was born in the Town of Rib Falls, Marathon County, Wisconsin (Marathon). Marathon is about 10 miles west of Wausau.

I graduated from Marathon High School in 1959. After High School I took business and accounting classes at North Central Technical College, Wausau, WI, Madison Area Technical College, Madison, WI, Milton College, Milton, WI, and Canal Zone College, Balboa, Canal Zone, Panama. I also, took various courses during my military career.

I was drafted in 1963, took basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, then was stationed for 2 years at Fort Amador, Canal Zone (Panama). I was in the Army National Guard for 2 years and then transferred to the Air National Guard. During my military career I was assigned to duty in Colorado, Mississippi, Florida, Michigan, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

I started working for the State of Wisconsin in 1972 in the Electrical and Computer Engineering College, University of Wisconsin, Madison. I managed various grants for the professors in the department.

In 1975 I transferred to the Department of Military Affairs, Adjutant General’s Office in Madison managing the federal/state shared funds for all the military installations in Wisconsin.

After 15 years I transferred to the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands in Madison. The Board of Commissioners of Public Lands is the oldest agency in the State of Wisconsin. It was established in 1848 when Wisconsin became a state. The Federal government gave Wisconsin money to be put into a trust fund. The purpose of the fund was to educate the citizens of Wisconsin. At the time of my retirement the fund increased by about one million dollars monthly due to certain fines and forfeitures which were mandated by the State Legislature to be deposited into the trust fund.

The monies in the fund were loaned to school districts and municipalities (towns, villages, cities, counties, and municipal districts). The loan had to be used for public purposes. The money was loaned at favorable rates.

The interest paid on the loans (about 20 to 30 million dollars annually) was returned to the public school libraries in the state.

During my 24 year military career if wrote and developed a program to prepare a Commander’s Digest monthly for the Base Commander. I was asked to come to National Guard Bureau in Washington to document this program, which was distributed to all Air National Guard units in the nation. I also traveled to several Air National Guard units to train their personnel.

I retired as an accountant for the State of Wisconsin, Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, after 30 years of service in January 2003.

I moved to The Villages, FL, in December of 2003.

Since moving to The Villages, I have worked as a teller for Citizens First Bank (5 years); delivered flowers for The Villages Florist (seasonal); and as a dispatcher for Community Watch (3 years). I have been fully retired since May of 2015.

I met my wife, Nancy Van Rooy, in 1975 while working at the Dept. of Military Affairs. We were married on St. Patrick’s Day in 1998. Nancy takes care of the 50/50 for the WI club.

Some of my hobbies are doing various crafts. I do try to chase that little white ball across the green grass of Florida.

When I think about Wisconsin, I miss the cooler and less humid days of summer and, of course, the beautiful colors of the fall season.